The Next Act, Waiting In The Wings

In Rainbows is safely purring away on my hard drive. It was released at about 6:00 AM in the U.K, which translated to 3:00 PM here. It finished downloading at about 3:50 and I spent ten or fifteen minutes flicking through it, quickly listening to scraps and pieces, before conceding to my epically inconvenient schedule and heading to uni. Yes, I have a class at 5:00.

Fortunately Triple J was about as excited about it as I am. They played the album in full throughout my hour-long drive to Creative Writing 212, so as I headed down the freeway with industrial wasteland and out-of-commission train stations sliding past on either side, I had a chance to better acquaint myself with my new friend. When it was interrupted by Robbie Buck talking to Sarah Blasko or whoever the fuck she was, I could switch to 92.9 and listen to the wacky antics of Hamish and Andy on their Caravan of Courage roadtrip across Australia. In terms of audio, probably the best commute I’ll ever have.

In these preliminary appreciation stages, the best song so far is easily “All I Need,” which is awesome enough that when I pulled into the university carpark I sat there for two or three minutes waiting for it to end before I switched the engine off.

Focusing on music isn’t easy when there are asshole tradesmen overtaking you as soon as they’re about five centimetres in front (leave for your next job earlier you fucks) and your engine screeches painfully if you drive more than 90 k’s an hour, so I still haven’t had a chance to digest In Rainbows fully. It’ll take a couple of days before the landscape of the album begins to emerge, I learn the lyrics, and I can tell one song apart from the others.

But the verdict so far is that it’s good. I mean, it’s Radiohead. They are objectively the greatest band of all time. Seriously. Scientists proved it with a computer. And my personal love for them knows no bounds. I have 143 of their songs, I’ve lost count of the number of their lyrics I’ve used as entry titles in End Times, and I actually liked The Eraser. In Rainbows isn’t perfect – this album certainly proves to me that the band peaked with Kid A (and it’s somewhat depressing to know they’ll never create anything that good again) – but it’s still Radiohead, and thus greater than any other musical experience anybody else could compose in their wildest, most ludicrous dreams, scribbling down riffs as they ride enormous silver pelicans to the emerald palace.